In a narrow room beside the courier station's kitchen, the mingled odors of stove smoke, cooked food, and the sour stench of slop seeped through the walls, permeating the space.
The youth A Jiu stepped inside and immediately raised a hand to cover his nose and mouth, coughing in disgust.
Aside from A Fu, who had rushed in earlier, the cramped room also held a girl of about fourteen or fifteen. Dressed in similarly worn-out cotton clothes, she had a round face and large eyes, appearing somewhat dazed, and still clutched a ladle in her hand—clearly, she had been helping in the neighboring kitchen.
"Mother, Mother," A Fu knelt before a makeshift plank bed, urgently calling to the woman lying there. "There are soldiers heading to Father's place, Mother."
The woman seemed to be in a faint, slowly roused by his calls. Her sallow face looked aged and weary, her breath faint as she awoke with a fit of rapid coughing.
A Fu and the girl holding the ladle flusteredly offered her water and patted her back.
"Soldiers," the coughing seemed to sharpen the woman's awareness as she gazed toward the doorway—
The room was too small to accommodate the soldiers, and A Jiu, repulsed by the smell, had retreated back outside after entering.
The woman asked in a trembling voice, "Are you heading to the Great Green Mountain Camp?"
A Jiu, covering his nose and mouth, replied in a muffled tone, "No, but we're going that way. What's your husband's name, how old is he, and under whose command does he serve—"
He actually repeated the questions he had asked earlier. A Fu, watching from beside the bed, looked puzzled but timid.
The Station Chief, standing at the back to avoid impropriety, inwardly scoffed—still verifying their story!
The Yang family woman gasped out her answers, more detailed than A Fu's account, even providing Yang Dachun's birth date. She fumbled around beside her, saying, "I made him a pair of shoes; you must take them to him."
A Fu quickly pulled a bundle from beneath the bedding. "Mother, they're right here."
This time, A Jiu did not ask to inspect the shoes. His phoenix eyes looked down at the woman from his height.
"Let me be blunt," he said coolly. "Our military duties are urgent, we travel fast, and the journey is arduous. We cannot take your children along. If they keep up, they keep up. If they fall behind, we won't wait for them."
The Yang woman propped herself up on the bed planks and kowtowed to him. "Soldiers, take them as far as you can. At least they'll be closer to their father, so he can find them sooner. Otherwise, left in this remote place, who knows if they'll even be alive by the time he comes? A Le, A Fu, quickly kowtow to the soldiers—"
After saying so much in one breath, the woman lacked the strength to kowtow and began coughing again.
A Fu knelt before the soldiers, and the girl A Le, still holding the large ladle, knelt as well, kowtowing while keeping an eye on the woman.
"Mother, my sister and I will definitely keep up, we'll see Father as soon as possible," A Fu cried, clutching the woman's hand. "We'll have Father come for you."
Amid the woman's coughing and the girl's weeping, the couriers outside who had wives and children felt a pang of sympathy. But to A Jiu, there was no sense of tragic suffering—only that the smell had become even more suffocating. He took another step back.
"Alright then," he said. "Get your things together. We're not staying the night; we'll rest at noon and then set off."
The separation was imminent, a parting that might well be eternal, and the woman's grief deepened.
"Soldiers," the Yang woman called out to the soldiers outside the door, weakly raising a hand, her frail face etched with despair. "If you are fortunate enough to see my man, tell him that I, his humble wife, have no regrets in life or death for having married him."It was truly a heart-wrenching scene. The couple must have shared a deep bond, as several couriers were on the verge of tears. Yet the young A Jiu frowned even more deeply, casting a sharp glance at the woman—
"Mother—" A Fu threw herself onto the woman, weeping bitterly and interrupting her mournful lament.
The pain of a couple parting in life and death was agonizing, but the pain of children parting from their mother was even more unbearable. The couriers could no longer bear to watch and hurried to leave. Seeing A Jiu still staring, they tugged at him, thinking, "He's just young and hasn't experienced life and death. He doesn't understand the suffering of the world, treating others' misery as entertainment."
"With two more people, we need to carefully select the horses," ordered Courier Zhang.
He glanced again at the weeping mother and daughter. The older sister, A Le, had moved to the bedside, silently shedding tears. Though reluctant, he had to remind them, "Pack your things quickly. Our schedule is fixed, and we cannot delay."
A Fu tearfully acknowledged the order.
Young A Jiu said nothing more, withdrew his gaze, and followed the others out.
The muffled sobs in the cramped room gradually subsided, fading into silence.
"Sister, let's pack our things," A Fu said, wiping her tears.
The girl A Le, who had been standing nearby, nervously set down her spoon. She wanted to pack but didn't know what to take.
"Just bring a couple of changes of clothes," A Fu said softly. "Leave the rest for Mother."
The older sister acknowledged and went to pack a bundle.
The woman lay on the bed, her breath faint: "Don't leave anything for me. Take it all with you. I... won't need it anymore..." As she spoke, tears streamed down her face. Her eyes, fixed on the girls, were filled with reluctance, sorrow, and self-reproach. "You must take care of yourselves."
A Fu held the woman's hand with her small ones, tears tracing paths down her cheeks. Her dark eyes stared at the woman. "Why did you say those extra words earlier?"
The woman's face stiffened, and she instinctively forced a faint smile. With tears in her eyes, the attempt at a smile made her expression strangely awkward and almost comical.
"As someone nearing death, I was thinking of your father, reminiscing about the past—" she murmured, gazing at the girl. "It was an outpouring of emotion, uncontrollable and deeply moving—"
A Fu's voice was calm. "If you're nearing death, how can your emotions be uncontrollable?"
The woman seemed to perk up. "A Fu, you're still young and don't understand this. Emotions—"
"Enough," A Fu cut in sharply, her voice stern.
Though only twelve or thirteen, her voice was still childish, yet it made the woman immediately fall silent and avert her eyes, not daring to meet the girl's gaze.
The girl's eyes were somewhat frightening. No longer filled with tears or veiled by her long lashes, they were dark and deep, like a bottomless well.
An eerie silence fell over the bedside.
In the cramped room, the other girl packing the bundle by the bed acted as if she had neither heard nor seen anything, keeping her head bowed as she tied the bundle.
"A Fu—" came the Station Chief's call from outside the door.
A Fu immediately turned her head, her large, dark eyes clouded with tears. "Master Xu—"
The Station Chief stepped inside, a smile on his face. "It's finally settled. I've asked them to pick a gentle horse for you."
A Fu bowed deeply to the Station Chief. "Thank you, Master Xu. We are eternally grateful for your kindness."
The girl, flustered and inarticulate, could only repeat this phrase over and over.
The other girl merely bowed in silence.
The woman on the bed struggled to sit up. "Master Xu, your great kindness and virtue—this humble woman will repay you in the next life, even as a beast or a blade of grass."The Station Chief helped her lie down properly: "It's just a small matter, and I didn't really help much. You're fortunate amidst misfortune to have encountered a Courier heading to the Border Commandery so quickly." He then cautioned the two girls, "Traveling with the Courier will be arduous. You must persevere, but if it becomes truly unbearable, don't push yourselves too hard. Losing your lives would make all the suffering pointless. Only by staying alive will you have the chance to see your father again."
A Fu's tears fell like rain as she bowed her head and pressed her forehead against her hands: "I will definitely live well. I must see Father again."
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